Today I received another fear and hate mongering email from my brother. I spoke to him on the phone, to let him know that it was untrue and damaging, and he told me about another that he'd received. So, this evening I sat down and composed a letter to my brothers. They've bought into the Republican mantra that Democrats are only about "taxing and spending." Here's the letter:
Hi Jim, Hi Mike --This is another request from your older sister: please -- for the sake of your kids and grandchildren -- please vote for Barack Obama.
When Barack Obama is President: Your taxes will be lower. There will be fewer abortions. The "war" in Iraq will end responsibly. Our economy will be restructured, with regulations to prevent greed and corruption from devastating our country and its citizens.Obama will have his work cut out for him, as our country is on the verge of ruin. But he's up for the task, unlike John McCain.The worn-out Republican dogma of trickle down economics just doesn't work. It has never worked. It has proven to be a false gospel, intended to confuse the average folks while it enriches the already obscenely rich friends of those in power. Here's a good article about paying taxes and patriotism:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/opinion/08friedman.html?_r=1&oref=sloginand here's one about Obama's superior record on Veterans' issues:http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2001Please do your part to return America to the country that lives up to its promise. As Bill Clinton said, America used to be admired because of the power of its example. America is now hated because of the recent examples of its power.We can regain our stature if we can lead the world by example. That will be the most effective way to defeat those who work against us. I hope that you will truly consider my message -- and I hope that you'll at least peruse these articles:http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-platform/campaign-2008/2008/10/sunday-editorial-barack-obama-for-president/http://www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_10703339http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/16/AR2008101603436.htmlhttp://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/10/13/obama_for_president/http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/10/13/081013taco_talk_editorsMuch love -- and hope for our children and for the USA to regain its stature in the world --Carolp.s. Jim, please forward the email that you mentioned. Here's something to check out with respect to that:http://fightthesmears.com/articles/5/birthcertificatehttp://fightthesmears.com/articles/12/corsi-- Aloha,CarolObama '08Yes We Can!Support my fundraising campaign! Please donate any amount to help elect Barack Obama:http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/carportJoin me at MYBO: http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGtZsx
On September 19, the eve of the Hawaii state primary election, the Democratic Party hosted its Primary Election Grand Rally for Barack Obama and our local Democratic candidates.
The Grand Rally took place at the Mooheau Park Bandstand in Downtown Hilo. There was music, food, and fun beginning at 4 pm, with Island-wide coverage on KHBC. A large crowd mingled on the scene in a festive atmosphere. Keynote addresses began at 6 pm, and featured Maya Soetoro-Ng, who was received enthusiastically by the crowd.
You can view some photos taken at the Grand Rally.
I received this in an email today, and I believe that it's worth posting here (with my changes and embellishments):
How Racism Works What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?What if McCain was still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?What if Obama was the candidate who openly cheated on his first wife after she was injured -- and publicly chased a much younger, wealthier woman?What if Michelle Obama was a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them unethically through her charitable organizations and then illegally removed them from the charities.What if Cindy McCain graduated from Princeton and Harvard?What if Obama was a member of the Keating Five?What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
As we look forward to this election, America faces calamitous economic prospects, unprecedented debt, two wars costing over $10 billion per month, a health care system that doesn't work for patients or doctors, exploding prison populations, mortgage crises, failing schools, bank foreclosures, and a weak dollar.You are The Boss... which team would you hire? Comparative Educational Backgrounds of the Candidates:Obama:Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude (and President of Harvard Law Review)Biden:University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)vs.McCain:United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899Palin:Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semesterNorth Idaho College - 2 semesters - general studyUniversity of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalismMatanuska-Susitna College - 1 semesterUniversity of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in JournalismNow, which team are you going to hire ?p.s. What if Barack Obama had an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter ...
I've hoped that our former President, Bill Clinton, would offer wholehearted support to Barack Obama's presidential bid. Since Clinton's outstanding speech at the Democratic Convention, I've waited.
I just read this column on the Huffington Post by Paul Slansky: A Note to Bill Clinton
I agree with Paul's sentiments. Bill Clinton is letting down the USA! Please DIGG the article to promote its visibility. Maybe Bill will get the message.
Our Big Island Obama leader (and National Delegate to the Democratic Convention), Jennifer Tsuji, welcomed a surprisingly large crowd to the Thelma Parker Center yesterday afternoon in Waimea. Barack's sister, Maya, arrived early with John Buckstead, our Hawaii County party chair.
Appreciative and inquisitive, Maya Soetoro-Ng individually greeted the folks who had gathered early. She took the time to speak and pose for photos with dozens of people, one by one. Maya exuded grace and aloha throughout the afternoon.
After short speeches by Dwight Takamine (candidate for State Senate) and Andy Winer (Obama campaign director for Hawaii), Maya took the podium to speak to each of us, and all of us, about her exceptional brother and his wonderful family. In a personal manner, she shared all of the reasons that we need to elect Barack Obama president in November.
This article from West Hawaii Today reiterates the themes of her speech.
You can view a few photos that I took at the event here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30568194@N08/sets/72157607280839006/show/with/2856026046/
The Big Island is motivated to give Barack Obama the largest margin of victory in the state of Hawaii, and to help bring in the vote across the USA!
Peter and I are in London, and had hoped to see Barack while we were here. Originally, the news indicated that he'd appear in London on July 18.
According to Politico, "On Thursday, July 24, 2008, Sen. Barack Obama will visit Berlin, Germany. Obama will give a major speech on the historic U.S.-German partnership, and the need to strengthen transatlantic relations to meet 21st-century challenges in front of the Siegessaule at the Grosser Stern in Tiergarten Park. The event is free and open to the public, and tickets are not required."
We'll be there, and hope to be able to see him. Wish us luck!
h First off, although it was long and somewhat boring, I watched Dennis Kucinich introduce articles of impeachment today in Congress (on CSPAN). Good for him; it's about time! Second, and more important, is our work to elect Barack as our next President. Here's a blog written by a former Clinton supporter about how to talk to non-supporters about Obama. http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/6/8/151450/1048 The author's approach is more about pacifying than enlightening the non-supporter. S/he's a former Clinton or Edwards supporter. My own style tends toward "enlightening" because I've taken the time to learn a bunch of facts and policy details. Basically, I listen and then encourage voting in our mutual interest for the progressive candidate who will protect Roe v. Wade, etc -- but I also love to look people in the eye with love and a smile, and say something like, "isn't this is great country? We can share our views, no matter how divergent, and find common ground on important ideas even if we disagree on a candidate. And we're free to talk and argue about it all in public!" Now that the nomination is secure (I hope!), it's easier to be sympathetic towards Hillary supporters, but it's hard to swallow their enthusiastic appeals for a joint ticket. I tend to smile and not comment -- or if I do comment, I say something like, "a lot of people are hoping for the same thing." I think it's better to say nothing, and if pressed just say that I'll support whomever Barack selects. It's easier to talk about McCain with his supporters, because we can display unshakable confidence that Obama will win, while expressing our genuine sympathy for the Republican party. We can assert our respect for John McCain, while encouraging them to disclose what they like about Barack so that we can encourage those feelings (usually we'll learn what they don't like in this discussion also). The DNC has created this site, http://www.mccainpedia.org/, that's a good, single point of reference about McCain. Recently, I read this article about McCain's first wife. It provides a perspective about his character and ethics: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html Generally, I "digg" articles and videos that I like -- mostly about Barack -- here: http://digg.com/users/carport The articles and videos that I want to remember about Barack's opponents (most are about Hillary -- just started adding McCain stuff) are posted to my del.icio.us account here: http://del.icio.us/melehuna
Obama '08
Yes We Can!
From Friday, May 23 to Sunday, May 25, I attended the Hawaii convention as a proud delegate for Barack Obama. Fortunately, there were so many of us that we were able to elect three terrific new leaders to positions that have superdelegate status: Brian Schatz, Kari Luna, and James Burns -- all staunch Obama supporters.The old party bosses, who are pro-Clinton, tried to flex their muscles and show their strength -- and they succeeded a few critical times -- notably by electing our former governor, George Ariyoshi as a national committee member over the apparent "shoe-in," Jonathan Starr.
It was an exciting and memorable event. I was "campaign manager" for my cousin, Jennifer Tsuji, who successfully ran to be a candidate to the National Convention -- for Barack, of course. Yay!
Our District 1 Congressional Representative is Neil Abercrombie, a long time Obama supporter -- and a university pal of Barack's parents. He spoke passionately about Barack, and about the process of change, saying among other things:
"I have been carrying in my heart the memory of his mother and father, and the result of this union brought us the first world citizen who can cross over not just this nation but across the world to bring the message of Hawaii, the message of aloha, of togetherness, openness, tolerance and diversity."
It was great to participate and demonstrate grass roots in action!
This is a fun quiz, especially if you've read Barack's books:
Test Your Obama IQ
Also, have you seen that Obama videos of speeches are being posted on iTunes, so that podcasts can be downloaded for free. This is great for "evangelists" such as me -- I'll be able to whip out meaningful Barack content anywhere I go with my iPod.
It looks like Barack Obama would win handily. Cast your vote here: http://www.whatifweallvoted.com/
The New England Historic Genealogical Society has uncovered interesting connections in the family trees of the Democratic presidential contestants. We learned a couple months ago that Barack and Dick Cheney are eighth cousins. Now we learn that, in addition to genetic ties to six former presidents of both parties -- including George Bush -- Barack Obama is distantly related to Winston Churchill.I'm a firm believer in genetic memory. What does this imply about who is more qualified?Barack Obama is also ninth cousin to Brad Pitt!
here are a couple of articles:http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/2008/03/obama_related_to_six_president.htmlhttp://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8pk8HGlTrOdiqrYNQ5IaY5I2P8QD8VKKFF00No more guilt by association! Yes we can!Aloha,Carolp.s. If you haven't yet, PLEASE view one of Reverend Wright's controversial sermons in its entirety (not just the "expanded version" that was shown on TV specials a few days ago). Here's a link to the "chickens home to roost" one that he gave shortly after 9/11. It's less than ten minutes, and I urge you to listen to the entire sermon. Thanks.
p.p.s. I also enjoyed reading the following statement by Hillary's former pastor. Last week, Dean Snyder, senior minister of Foundry United Methodist Church -- attended by the Clintons during their time in the White House -- released the following defense of the totality of Wright's work.
A STATEMENT CONCERNING THE REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT The Reverend Jeremiah Wright is an outstanding church leader whom I have heard speak a number of times. He has served for decades as a profound voice for justice and inclusion in our society. He has been a vocal critic of the racism, sexism and homophobia which still tarnish the American dream. To evaluate his dynamic ministry on the basis of two or three sound bites does a grave injustice to Dr. Wright, the members of his congregation, and the African-American church which has been the spiritual refuge of a people that has suffered from discrimination, disadvantage, and violence. Dr. Wright, a member of an integrated denomination, has been an agent of racial reconciliation while proclaiming perceptions and truths uncomfortable for some white people to hear. Those of us who are white Americans would do well to listen carefully to Dr. Wright rather than to use a few of his quotes to polarize. This is a critical time in America's history as we seek to repent of our racism. No matter which candidates prevail, let us use this time to listen again to one another and not to distort one another's truth. Dean J. Snyder, Senior Minister Foundry United Methodist Church March 19, 2008
Click here to read original statement published on Foundry United Methodist Church's website.
This article attempts to explain digg.com, and why it helps to become a registered user of digg.com, so that you can DIGG articles. Digg's objective is to democratize content on the internet, by displaying it based on the number of times its users "digg" a piece of web content (web page, video, image, etc.). If enough Obama supporters were to DIGG an important article about him, it might emerge at the top of digg.com's political news page. The mainstream media takes note of what stuff is highly rated on digg.com -- so we might be able to cause more notice and reporting of important pro-Barack information.
In case that didn't make sense, I'll restate it: There are so many Obama supporters that together we can "push" favorable stories about our candidate to a high enough status that the mainstream media will take notice of it.
Here are a few reasons that creating a profile on digg.com will benefit you. 1) By DIGGing content that is important to you, you are effectively bookmarking it in your own web-based database. If your hard drive crashes, you don't lose that bookmark (or "favorite"). If you're at a friend's house and want to show them a terrific web page, you can go to your own digg page and locate it quickly. 2) It saves your comments with the page's bookmarks, so that you can have a record of all of the comments you may have made on any particular blog or webpage or other article, or content. 3) digg.com provides a different kind of social network, where you can identify "friends" with similar web interests.
So, please sign up for a digg account. You can visit my page if you'd like. I've saved quite a few favorable and interesting Barack Obama links there.
More importantly, please DIGG these terrific articles to help them move to prominence on digg.com's political news page:
The Obama I Know
Barack Obama: On My Faith and My Church
Barack's Mother: A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set His Path
Mahalo to all. Yes We Can, with Aloha!
I just sent this letter to Howard Dean, and I urge everyone that reads this post to send a similar comment to him. Take what I've written, or modify it, or write your own sentiments -- but please urge Howard Dean to insist that the rules about Michigan and Florida be maintained! The most strategic way to do this, in my opinion, is to remain unbiased in your comments -- not appearing (too strongly) to support one candidate over the other.
Thanks in advance. Here's the comment I sent to him:
Dear Governor Dean,
I urge you to abide by the agreed upon rules regarding the Michigan and Florida primaries. No money should be spent, at any level in the Democratic party, to re-do these primaries. Every dollar is needed to fight the Republicans! Let's not take our focus off the real goal, and let's not fritter money or energy -- or allow further discussion -- of the possibility of changing the agreed upon rules.
Keep your eyes on the prize, please! DEMOCRATIC PARTY VICTORY AT ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT! Don't waste any money on issues that result from "poor sportsmanship."
Thank you,Carol Porter
Write to Governor Dean using this form.
As California gets closer to releasing its final election results, it looks like Barack Obama will gain up to ten more delegates than originally reported. To help this information get more notice, please DIGG this article from the Wall Street Journal blogs on digg.com, here:
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Obama_s_California_Comeback_2
After you "digg it," you can click on the story title, which will take you to the original article, here:
http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/obamas-california-comeback-295/
There's another terrific article about Barack by Georgie Ann Geyer on yahoo. I'll copy it below, but I'd really appreciate it if everyone would DIGG this article, which can be found here, through digg.com.
LEADERSHIP IS OBAMA'S BEST QUALITYby Georgie Anne Geyer, Mon Mar 10, 7:57 PM ET WASHINGTON -- Did I miss something? I thought we, the American people, wanted something different in a presidential candidate this time. Someone civil, decent, cultured. An intelligent moderate and not someone who swaggered around like a hound dog in heat. A man or woman who would do us proud on the world stage.
That was the way it was presented to us when the campaign started a year or so ago, but now that higher version of ourselves seems to be falling to vulgar bits. After initial defeats to the elegant Obama, the angry Hillary has bounded back with an almost savage energy, and we, the American people, were impressed enough with her "toughness" to give her three state primary victories in a row, not knowing what that quality would really represent in a president.
Obama was "unprepared" to be commander in chief of the United States, the tough and commanding Hillary declared. Obama was unprepared for the crisis of the nuclear call at 3 a.m., her ads did more than insinuate. Obama's advisers even began publicly advising him to "change his tone" and to "fight back," lest he lose the lower ground to which she had so deliberately carried the discussion.
He rightly answered: "The question is not about picking up the phone. The question is what kind of judgment will you make when you answer?" To which the always impressive Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia, commented, "What matters most in the Oval Office is sound judgment and decisive action. It's about getting it right on crucial national security questions the first time -- and every time."
But that is not what Hillary is talking about these unpleasant, unnecessary days. Her mantra now is, "I am a fighter. I am a fighter." Very well, but what exactly does that mean?
Does that mean she is fighting the Republicans? It does not appear so, not when she says so unnervingly for her party that Republican candidate John McCain is eminently capable of being commander in chief, but that her fellow Democrat Barack Obama, supposedly for lack of her pugnacity and his purported "lack of experience," is not.
She is a fighter against Democrats -- men and women who essentially believe in the same precepts and principles as she does. So the fighter mantra comes down to merely a struggle to advance her own intense and often reckless ambition.
Obama made the point. "She had the view that what's required is simply to fight," he said, referring to her doomed healthcare plan of the '90s. "And Sen. Clinton ended up fighting not just the insurance companies and the drug companies, but also members of her own party."
What's more, Hillary Clinton's insinuations about Obama's supposed inexperience are quite perversely amusing, when you come down to it (and if you have a sense of humor left). When you look back at Bill Clinton's eight years, they were years of almost unmitigated disaster for foreign policy.
Under his commanding leadership, we helped Russia "democratize," a series of disastrous interventions that led directly to the new anti-American autocracy today; the White House sent a directive to Somalia to go after the head chieftain there, ending in the tragic death of Americans and the end of the Somali mission. Bill Clinton sent a ship to Haiti to solve problems there, and had it turn around and leave when it saw hoodlums on the dock.
And, of course, it took years of disaster in the Balkans -- the Balkans, THE totemic case study of the 1990s, remember -- before Bill Clinton moved to take any action at all in 1995 with the Dayton Accords and 1999 with the bombing of Serbia and the freeing of Kosovo.
As for Hillary's other big foreign policy question -- should an American president speak to undesirable foreign leaders? -- that one, too, is grossly unfair to Obama. He has said that, yes, he would personally negotiate, but so did Richard Nixon (and that Metternich of Metternichs, Henry Kissinger) with China, with extraordinary success.
The question in foreign policy is not to have a president who sets rigid parameters, but one who is a "universalist," who understands the mentalities at work in the peoples and leaders of the world, realistically, and who thus knows what will work and what will not. Obama has that crucial capacity, one that escaped even the great FDR and Churchill in World War II: Their problems with Joseph Stalin began, historians have told me, when they misdiagnosed him as a malleable interlocutor instead of a vicious paranoid, when they began to call him "Uncle Joe."
As the man I would choose as having these capacities above all others, former Secretary of State James Baker III, said, "There's no such thing as presidential experience outside of the office itself." The quality we ought to seek, he went on, "is leadership."
That is a quality that Obama has, and one that he embellishes with his sometimes aloof style, but also with his refusal to get down and dirty with some of his less discerning opponents. Leadership is not fighting whatever gets in your precious way at any moment. It is exemplifying and embodying an entire set of profound American principles and beliefs and giving such expression to them on the international stage that other peoples will want to be more, and not less, like us.
Isn't it strange that, as the campaign gets more unpleasant -- and, Good Lord Almighty, save us, we've still got more than seven months of it left! -- Hillary sounds, looks and acts more and more like a classic demagogue, in fact, more like the man she would replace. One can almost hear her replaying George W.'s attitude of anytime, anyplace, at any cost.
The use of Barack's middle name to indicate that he supports terrorists is truly frustrating. I've sent emails to the network news programs that repeatedly air "accusations" about this, and was particularly sickened yesterday that Fox news mentioned Steve King's assertions at least every fifteen minutes.
The emails that I sent stated that Hussein is a very common name in much of the world, and that although Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator, he never attacked the USA. Also, King Hussein of Jordan was a respected figure worldwide, and a valuable ally of the USA.
Tonight, I found a terrific article on salon.com entitled Obama should be proud to be named Hussein. I hope that everyone reading this post will go to digg.com, and DIGG the article:
http://digg.com/political_opinion/Obama_Should_Be_Proud_of_His_Middle_Name
Yes We Can, with Aloha!
I've been asked to re-post this to a few more groups, so pardon me if this is a duplicate for anybody. I have edited it a bit:
When I speak to uncommitted voters, I usually hear the same concerns about Barack Obama: he lacks experience; he's full of words, not substance; he isn't strong on foreign policy and national defense; his health care plan doesn't cover everybody; concerns about his religion and patriotism; yada, yada, yada.To address the experience issue, I mention the points I made in an earlier blog. If there is interest, I go on in detail, as follows:
The first thing I want to say is that Hillary's experience argument is a myth. Barack has served for more years in elected office (8 years in the Illinois senate before being elected to the US Senate in 2004), and nearly all of his other work experience is in public service -- either community organizing or civil rights law (he did spend one year after graduating from Columbia University -- majoring in International Relations -- working for a marketing firm in New York while he figured out what he really wanted). Then he went to work for a few years for a church-based organization helping to organize a devastated community on the south side of Chicago before entering Harvard Law School. Barack was elected the President of the Harvard Law Review -- the most prestigious credential of any law school in the world -- and could have gone on to his choice of megabucks positions (as Hillary did in her law career), but he chose to serve people. One of his professors, a pretty famous guy named Laurence Tribe, has taught countless students at Harvard Law -- including dozens of world leaders, judges, heads of corporations, etc. -- and says that of all of them, Barack Obama was (in addition to being an outstanding scholar) extraordinarily able to bring diverse groups and interests together to forge win-win solutions. That's the opposite of Hillary, who is well known to cause polarization, and prefers gridlock to compromise.After law school, and while serving in the Illinois Senate, Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, as a "senior lecturer." The University wanted to make him a professor, but he refused because he wanted to work in public service. If you search the web about this, you'll find interviews with many of his students -- all of them are very complimentary and encouraging about the man.Basically, if Hillary's experience argument were true, it would mean that Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush are as qualified as she is to be president. (Both Ronald Reagan and George Bush were governors as well as presidents, just like Bill Clinton).
In the foreign policy arena, I mention that as a child, Barack lived in Indonesia for a few years, and otherwise was raised in Hawaii -- really different cultures than that of the mainland US. Here in Hawaii (where I live), diversity is the status quo, which it wasn't on the mainland (and still isn't in many places). I consider that a huge asset in our "global village." I cite his cool head, unflappable demeanor, and demonstrated judgment. These critical attributes for a US President have been affirmed most recently by ten admirals and generals from the United States Army, Navy and Air Force -- that together have served under our last nine Commanders-in-Chief -- in their March 12, 2008 endorsement of Barack Obama for US President.
I also mention that Barack has demonstrated an ability to bring conflicting factions together to hammer out mutually beneficial solutions -- including bipartisan achievements in the Senate -- that this skill sets him apart from all the candidates, and is especially valuable in the international relations arena (where he will utilize his undergraduate major). Additionally, I remind my listeners (if they're not asleep by then) that Americans abroad overwhelmingly have voted for Barack, because it is clear that the rest of the world hopes that he will be our next President. America's image abroad is tarnished, to say the least, and Barack will restore America's credibility internationally when he's elected. Of course, he'll have to maintain that instant boost that America will receive.
If any readers have suggestions for me to augment this info, I would really appreciate it if you'd comment on this with your thoughts, or links to good material. I could use more information on this topic.
In terms of health care, I agree that it would be optimal if everyone could be insured. But Hillary's plan leaves people out as well. Massachusetts citizens, who have a mandated health insurance system, have found that, when self-insured, their rates have gone up as much as 30%. Many have been forced to opt out because they can no longer afford it, and then they are punitively fined for non-compliance. Barack's plan will lower costs, because of a very different implementation strategy that will save an average family $2500 per year. With Hillary's plan, insurance costs for average Americans will increase, including costs for employers.
Additionally, there are tens of thousand of Americans who choose alternative health care, or whose religion or culture prohibits conventional western health care, or requires a different approach than western medicine offers. Hillary's plan does not support alternative health care, yet it doesn't allow these Americans to opt out without penalty, if at all. Barack Obama has wisely observed that "Hillary-style" health care won't make it through congress to be passed into law. On top of this, leading economists have declared that her plan will bankrupt our country. With respect to his religion (and the widely circulated, but absurd and bogus notion that he supports Islamic fundamentalists), I emphasize that he is a Christian who has been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ for twenty years, and I emphatically deny that he has any connection to terrorists. The rebuttals have been well established, and can be found widely on the web. As further indication of his religious conviction and knowledge, I refer people to link #4 below.
In terms of "words, not substance," I refer skeptics to Barack's Blueprint for Change, and to other resources on his Issues page, in addition to some of the links below. Also, I ask why his gift as an orator is held against him; in my view he is clearly the superior candidate, and his outstanding, eloquent speech-making is like icing on the cake -- and a clearly beneficial skill for our president to possess. Critics need to know that the researchers have determined that audiences prefer his lofty stump speeches to his substantive policy speeches. Guess what? Barack is campaigning, so of course he's going to give the speeches that audiences prefer!
I try to follow up with an email that contains a few of my favorite web links. I don't include the "Yes I Can" video, because nearly everyone has seen that. Once again, if any readers have other suggestions, please let me know.
Here are the links:1. This is a terrific introductory video developed for the Iowa campaign. In my opinion, it should be updated and re-issued: http://iowa.barackobama.com/page/content/iowagettoknow2. There have been several emails highlighting Barack's superior legislative record in both Senates (state and federal), but most of them have been biased in his favor (not showing the bills that Hillary co-sponsored for example). This blog post, though, is comprehensive -- but only covers 2007. It also doesn't show his very impressive legislative record in the Illinois State Senate (see the links in #3 below). I think 2007 is a good comparison, considering that both candidates spent last year campaigning nearly full time:http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/20/201332/807/36/4586333. Bills sponsored by Obama in the Illinois Senate:http://www.ilga.gov/senate/SenatorBills.asp?GA=93&MemberID=747andhttp://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/29/us/politics/20070730_OBAMA_GRAPHIC.html4. This video of Barack's Call to Renewal speech is 38 minutes long -- and a bit dry. It's not a stump speech, rather it's a reasoned discussion of Barack's views about politics and religion. I don't know how familiar you are with the Bible -- but if you are, you'll be impressed. Even more impressive is his thinking about the relationship of (and separation of) church and state:http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid353515028?bctid=4163439385. Here is another lengthy (nearly 1 hour) video of a forum with Barack's foreign policy advisors:http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid353515028/bctid1336721544
6. This video shows a relaxed, informal Barack:http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81/kos102/2007/05%20Other/Obama/?action=view¤t=Obama-Diner-CNNFF.flv
7. Meet Derrick, and learn his opinions (Derrick is a random young supporter on the street outside of the California debates, quite possibly chosen because he has very dark skin, and the reporter assumed he wouldn't know very much):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kica8hmSdAM8. Here's the most fun -- hip hop music and companion video (listen to the words):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVe0kMzqN0U
Any suggestions for improvement or enhancement are very welcome, and I will update this blog to include them, so that folks who are canvassing or phonebanking have more information to speak knowledgeably with skeptical or uncommitted audiences. Mahalo.
